Cooloola Recap

Welcome to the SEKQLD Race Recap, the data-driven debrief of Sportsman Enduro Karting Queensland. I'm your AI host, and this is Episode One: Cooloola.

March 15th, 2026. Eight teams. Six hours. A 0.89-kilometre circuit at Cooloola Coast Kart Club, Springwood, Queensland. The 2026 SEKQLD season opener, and what a way to set the tone for the year.

By the time the chequered flag dropped, we'd seen 476 laps from the leader, a fastest lap that defied the finishing order, a spin-and-restart drama, and a championship fight that's going to run deep into the season.

Let's break it all down.

Force Phantom, number 66, took the win. 476 laps in 6 hours and 52 seconds. A dominant display, leading from early on and never really looking troubled. Their best lap, a 42.820 second flyer, was the second-fastest of the entire field.

Second place went to Alpha Racing Team, number 64, just two laps behind on 474. They ran a clean, consistent race, their 43.121s best lap tells you they weren't trying to be heroes. They didn't need to be. Smart endurance racing.

ShapeCUT Racing, number 787, rounded out the podium on 469 laps with a 42.996s best. Third place, but with genuine pace in the car, a team that's going to be dangerous at Warwick.

Now here's where it gets interesting. The fastest single lap of the entire race, across all eight teams, all six hours, didn't belong to the winner.

It belonged to BR Motorsport. Number 49.

42.815 seconds. Set on lap 113 by driver Thiago. Five thousandths of a second faster than Force Phantom's best. The outright quickest anyone went at Cooloola all day.

And yet, BR Motorsport finished fifth. 466 laps. Ten behind the leader.

So what happened?

[beat]

Two things. First, a spin on lap 187 that forced a pit stop and engine restart, costing roughly 84 seconds. That single incident accounts for more than the 7.5-second margin to fourth place. Without it? BR Motorsport is in fourth, minimum.

Second, the two-driver pace gap. In a team with two drivers sharing six hours, consistency across both seats matters as much as raw speed. And that's the area where BR Motorsport has the most to gain heading into Round 2.

Fourth place, GF Motorsports, number 42, is an interesting one. Also on 466 laps, same as BR Motorsport. The two teams were separated by just 7.5 seconds after six hours of racing. GF's best lap was 43.490s, significantly slower than BR's, but they stayed out of trouble. Clean laps win endurance races.

In sixth, CASA Racing, number 397, came home on 460 laps with a 43.628s best. A solid debut in the Honda Sportsman class, and a team that showed they can race at this level.

Seventh went to Project 5FIVE3, number 95, on 458 laps. Their 43.122s best lap suggests there's raw pace in the car, if they can unlock more consistency, they'll be climbing the order.

And then there's Team Fang, number double-zero. The Come'n'Try entry. 414 laps. 44.396s best.

Now, those numbers don't tell the real story. Team Fang entered this race to learn. To experience six hours of endurance racing for the first time. They finished. They completed 414 laps of a demanding circuit. And they did it with the attitude that makes grassroots motorsport special.

Every champion started somewhere. Team Fang just started their somewhere at Cooloola.

After one round, the championship standings look like this:

Force Phantom leads with 151 points. Alpha Racing second on 143. ShapeCUT third, 137. Then GF Motorsports on 132, BR Motorsport on 129, CASA Racing 125, Project 5FIVE3 on 122, and Team Fang on 119.

The spread from first to last is just 32 points after one round. That's nothing over a seven-round season. This championship is wide open.

Round 2 takes us to Warwick on April 25th and 26th. Different circuit, different conditions, different challenges.

The questions heading in are clear. Can Force Phantom maintain their composure at the front? Will Alpha Racing push harder for the win, or stick to their consistency playbook? Can ShapeCUT find the extra seven laps they need to challenge for second?

And can BR Motorsport, the team with the fastest car on the grid, translate that raw pace into the result it deserves?

The data says yes. The potential is there. Now it's about execution.

That's a wrap on the Cooloola recap. Thanks for listening to the SEKQLD Race Recap, the only data-driven race debrief in Queensland endurance karting.

All data sourced from official MYLAPS Speedhive timing. Full analysis, team pages, and interactive charts available at brmotorsport.com.au.

See you at Warwick.

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